Published: 12 April 2022  (Updated: 13 April 2022)

IMPORTANT – Upcoming Updates to Annexes II and III of the UK Cosmetics Regulation and OPSS Survey

On 6 April 2022, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS – the UK regulator for cosmetic products) issued a communication to CTPA alerting the association of important upcoming changes to Annexes II and III of the UK Cosmetics Regulation (list of banned ingredients and list of restricted ingredients respectively).

An official public communication has not been issued by OPSS yet; however, we are expecting for the Statutory Instrument (SI) implementing these changes to be laid before Parliament imminently.  Please note that this information is subject to changes until the official legislation is in place.

Below is a list of the expected ingredient changes.

  • Deoxyarbutin will be added to Annex II of the UK Cosmetics Regulation and therefore banned for use in cosmetic products. For more information, please check the SAG-CS opinionThe placing on the market deadline is expected to be 15 December 2022; the making available on the market deadline (off-shelf) is expected to be 15 March 2023.

 

  • Salicylic acid will be added to Annex III of the UK Cosmetics Regulation and restricted for use in cosmetic products (not as a preservative) at the below concentrations:
    • maximum 3% in rinse-off cosmetics;
    • maximum 2% in other products except body lotion, eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner, lipstick, roll-on deodorant;
    • maximum 0.5% in body lotion, eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner, lipstick, roll-on deodorant.
      For more information, please check the SAG-CS opinionThe placing on the market deadline is expected to be 15 December 2022; the making available on the market deadline (off-shelf) is expected to be 15 March 2023.
  • CMR ingredients included in the EU 3rd and 4th CMR Omnibus Regulations will be added to Annex II of the UK Cosmetics Regulation, with the exclusion of salicylic acid (please refer to the above bullet point) and titanium dioxide (which will be re-assessed by SAG-CS at a later stage). The placing on the market deadline is expected to be 15 October 2022; the making available on the market deadline (off-shelf) is expected to be 15 December 2022.  As a reminder, below is a list of relevant cosmetic ingredients affected:
    • butylphenyl methylpropional (fragrance ingredient BMHCA, ‘lilial’);
    • methoxyethyl acrylate;
    • preservative sodium hydroxymethylglycinate (SHMG);  
    • preservative and anti-dandruff ingredient zinc pyrithione (ZnPT).

Further to this information, the OPSS has issued a survey to companies in order to carry out an impact assessment of the proposed changes to Annex II and III of the UK Cosmetics Regulation.  The closing date for the survey is 27 April.

All companies manufacturing cosmetic ingredients or cosmetic products, brand owners, distributors or retailers for cosmetics are encouraged to take this survey.

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